Thame
Thame | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | Thame | |
Postcode district | OX9 | |
Dialling code | 01844 | |
Police | Thames Valley | |
Fire | Oxfordshire | |
Ambulance | South Central | |
UK Parliament | ||
Website | Thame Town Council | |
Thame
Abbey, parish church and prebendal
The earliest feature of the
The transepts and tower arches are also early 13th century.[6] The nave has five-bay north and south aisles whose arcades were built in about 1260. The aisles were widened in the 14th century, when they acquired their Decorated Gothic windows and doors. The Decorated Gothic south porch has two storeys and a two-bay quadripartite vault.[4]
The Perpendicular Gothic clerestory is 14th or early 15th century. In the 15th century the tower piers were strengthened and the two upper stages of the tower were built. In 1442 the north transept was rebuilt with five-light Perpendicular Gothic north and east windows with panel tracery. At about the same time the south transept acquired similar windows and was extended eastwards to form a chapel with a 15th-century piscina. The Perpendicular Gothic nave west window was inserted in 1672–73, making it an example of Gothic survival. In 1838 the north aisle north wall was rebuilt under the direction of George Wilkinson.[4] The tower has a ring of eight bells, all cast by Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1876.[7]
The Prebendal House is known to have existed by 1234,[8] The Early English Gothic chapel was built in about 1250.[9] The solar is also 13th century but was enlarged in the 14th, when the present crown-post roof was added. The rest of the Prebendal House is dated from the 15th century. The hall is 14th century in plan but was later divided, and one part now has a fine 15th century roof. In 1661 the antiquary Anthony Wood reported that the house was ruinous, and early in the 19th century the remains were in use as a farmhouse and barns. It was restored in 1836.[10] The prebendal houses and the Church of St. Mary were both attacked repeatedly in the early 1290s during a violent conflict between the bishop of Lincoln, Oliver Sutton, and a knight of King Edward I, Sir John St. John.[11] The Prebendal House was the home of singer/songwriter Robin Gibb and his wife Dwina from 1984, and Gibb is buried in St Mary's parish churchyard.[12]
Social and economic history
In 1550 the courtier John Williams, 1st Baron Williams of Thame built the almshouses in Church Lane. He died in 1559, and his will established the local grammar school. Its original building, completed in 1569, stands next to the almshouses. In 1880 the school moved to its current premises in Oxford Road. In 1971 it became a comprehensive school under the name Lord Williams's School.
The
The champion bare-knuckle boxer James Figg was born in Thame in the late 17th century and had his early prize-fights at the Greyhound Inn.[14] In the 21st century the Greyhound Inn was renamed the James Figg and in April 2011 the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board unveiled a blue plaque there to commemorate him.[15]
In the 18th century many of the buildings in the boat-shaped High Street were re-faced with modern facades built of locally produced salt glazed bricks. Late in the 18th century John Wesley preached in Thame. The congregation on that occasion was so large that the floor of the building gave way, and the crowd fell to the lower floor.[16]
By 1813 Thame had a
Thame
Thame railway station was opened in 1862 as the temporary terminus of an extension of the Wycombe Railway from High Wycombe. The extension was completed in 1864 when it reached Oxford. In 1963 British Railways withdrew passenger services between Princes Risborough and Oxford and closed Thame station, leaving Princes Risborough (7 miles) as the nearest passenger station until 1987 (see below)[21] BR dismantled the track between Thame and Morris Cowley, but kept the line between Thame and Princes Risborough open for goods traffic to and from an oil depot in Thame.
Thame Town Hall was designed by the architect HJ Tollit in Jacobethan style and built in 1888.[22]
In 1940 Willocks McKenzie, a local lorry driver, found a small hoard of late Medieval coins and rings beside the River Thame. The coins were ten groats and the rings were five ornate examples ranging from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The county Coroner declared them to be treasure trove and therefore Crown property. The Crown placed the hoard on permanent loan to the Ashmolean Museum. The most ornate ring was an ecclesiastical one incorporating a small reliquary. Its lid is decorated with a distinctive cross with two horizontal sections, similar to the Cross of Lorraine. Thame Town Council incorporated this cross into its town emblem.[23]
In 1974 the M40 motorway was extended from High Wycombe to Chilworth Farm at Great Milton. Junction 7 at Milton Common is about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Thame, giving the town a fast road link to London. In 1990 the M40 extension was completed, giving Thame a fast road link to Birmingham.
In 1987
In 1991 Thame oil depot closed, and BR dismantled the railway between Thame and Princes Risborough. Sustrans was allowed to re-use the former trackbed to create the Phoenix Trail which is part of National Cycle Network route 57. Reopening the rail line through Thame was an option considered by Chiltern Railways in their plan to open a direct rail route from London Marylebone to Oxford via Princes Risborough in 2015. The cost of reinstating bridges was considered prohibitive.
Economy
The town's two largest employers,
Public transport
See above for details of Haddenham and Thame Parkway station. As of 2013 the fastest London Marylebone trains took 36 minutes.